"Chung-Ang's Son Has Done It"... Campus Abuzz as 'Law 82' Produces a President

First President Produced Since University’s Founding
Students Capture Banners on Their Way to Class

On June 3rd, Lee Jae Myung was elected president in the presidential election. His alma mater, Chung-Ang University, also celebrated his election by installing banners and electronic billboards. President Lee is an alumnus of the university's Department of Law, class of 1982, and this is the first time since its founding that Chung-Ang University has produced a president. According to Yonhap News and Chung-Ang University, on the morning of the 4th, congratulatory banners for President Lee Jae Myung's election were displayed throughout the Chung-Ang University campus in Heukseok-dong, Dongjak-gu, Seoul.

A banner congratulating President Lee Jae Myung on his election is hung in front of the Law Building on Chung-Ang University campus in Dongjak-gu, Seoul, on the 4th. Photo by Yonhap News

From the electronic billboard near the main gate of Chung-Ang University, the message "Congratulations to alumnus Lee Jae Myung (Law, class of 1982) on being elected President of the Republic of Korea" greeted students on their way to class. In addition, banners bearing the names of the Chung-Ang University class of 1982 alumni association, the College of Law alumni association, the Democratic Alumni Association, and former student council presidents?who all entered the university the same year as President Lee?were hung throughout the campus. Students heading to their classrooms were also seen pausing for a moment to capture the scene of the congratulatory banners with their phone cameras. This is the first time since its founding that Chung-Ang University has produced a president.

On the 4th, a banner congratulating President Lee Jaemyung on his election was hung at Chung-Ang University campus in Dongjak-gu, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News

Previously, former presidents Kim Dae Jung and Roh Moo Hyun graduated from Mokpo Commercial High School and Busan Commercial High School, respectively. Former president Lee Myung Bak is a graduate of Korea University. Former president Park Geun Hye graduated from Sogang University, former president Moon Jae In graduated from Kyung Hee University, and former president Yoon Suk Yeol, along with former president Kim Young Sam, graduated from Seoul National University. Among them, when former president Moon Jae In was inaugurated as the 19th president, Kyung Hee University became the first university in history to produce both a president and a first lady at the same time. At that time, a banner reading "Congratulations to alumnus Moon Jae In on being elected the 19th president" was also hung at the main gate of Kyung Hee University's Seoul campus.

According to official academic records, former president Moon Jae In entered Kyung Hee University's Department of Law on March 10, 1972, and graduated on October 16, 1980. He was expelled in 1975 for participating in the democratization movement but was reinstated during the "Seoul Spring" in 1980. Kim Jung Sook, the former first lady, entered the university's Department of Vocal Music on March 8, 1974, and graduated on February 23, 1978. Former president Moon met his wife, Kim Jung Sook, at a campus festival, and after dating as a campus couple for seven years, they got married.